by Sheila Kell
“I’ve got an idea,” Uncle AJ said with laughter in his voice.
In the rearview mirror, she’d seen Dad roll his eyes, and she covered her mouth to keep her laughter from reaching him. Then, she got mad because he wasn’t treating her Uncle AJ right.
“What?” Her dad always spoke few words to everyone but their small family currently in the SUV.
“I’m thinking—”
The phone rang in with a call from Uncle Brad. They must all be lonely, but she couldn’t understand why that was since their families rode with them.
Dad cursed really low, but Reagan heard him, and Mom turned to him and gave him the evil eye. “Hang on.” Reagan was disappointed because she’d been working hard on her family and their friends cleaning up their language. She’d made some progress at the beginning of the year—while making some money—but they kept reverting back to foul mouths. They were good about watching their language around her and the other kids, though. Mostly.
After Mom touched the screen to connect the call, Uncle Brad’s voice called to them. Neither her dad nor her uncle said hello. She huffed at their lack of manners. As a lady, she had to find a way to help them with that. It’d be a big challenge, especially with Uncle Brad.
“Can we conference everyone in?” Uncle Brad asked.
Dad suddenly sat taller in his seat. Actually, so did Mom. Something must be wrong. Reagan’s nerves quivered and made her worry for all of them. “Why?” Dad asked tersely. Tersely. She mulled that word over. Was that the right word? She’d look it up on her cell phone later. Right now she wanted to hear all her uncles at once and see what was so important. Usually, they had her leave when they talked business, but this time, she had nowhere else to go. “Hang on.”
Maybe they would be discussing everyone’s Christmas presents. That’d be cool to know what Amber would be getting. She still believed in Santa Claus, and Reagan wouldn’t ruin that for her.
Dad looked at Mom, and she touched the screen to connect all her uncles. She was glad because Dad needed both hands on the wheel. It was like a blizzard out there. Granted, she’d never been in a blizzard, but she couldn’t image it snowing heavier.
Once her uncles all had connected from each of the seven SUVs in a row that they drove to see Poppy, it got so noisy she almost had to cover her ears. Uncle AJ interrupted the jabs back and forth. “I called first so wait your turn.”
Mom smiled and turned to Dad. She couldn’t see his expression in the rearview mirror, but he wasn’t sitting as tall now, so she hoped that meant he wasn’t scared.
Taking over the call, Dad sighed and said, “Go-ahead, AJ.”
“Based on what HIS has gone through since you and Dev tugged the rest of us along, I think we should change our name to Hamilton Investigation, Security, Rescue, & Bust Bad Guys While Falling in Love. What do you think?”
Reagan wrinkled her nose, and some of her uncles groaned. What a horrible name. She’d have expected better from her uncle. If they changed the name to that, when she was old enough to take over, she’d change it back or maybe give it a better name like HIS and HERS—regular HIS name and Helping Everyone Remain Safe. Plus its men and women as agents. She’d told Jason, and he’d stayed quiet for a moment and told her she shouldn’t use it unless HIS turned to dating. She’d rolled her eyes at his joke, but it’d had her wondering about the title.
“You bothered us with that bullshit?” Uncle Brad sounded angry, and while she’d seen him that way before, this seemed different. She didn’t know how, but she knew.
Uncle Jake butted in, “I have to say that taking over the investigation side of the business, I hadn’t expected to use my rifle or watch Matt blow our entry and exit points because we’re in a firefight again.”
“You know it hasn’t been like this all year. Besides, no team was available, and it was our case.” No one argued with her dad.
She beamed. Her dad and mom had been home almost all year. They had a summer vacation together at the beach and would ski while in Colorado. She couldn’t be happier with having them around.
“I know you didn’t want to go, but it had to be you. We couldn’t recall the teams and hadn’t expected the problems you ran into.” Aunt Em, married to Uncle Jake, was the baby sister of her dad and uncles. If they hovered over her the way they hovered over Aunt Em, she’d have to kick some butt, uncles or not.
Uncle Brad, not to be ignored, butted in again with a change of topic. “Jesse, what’s your take on the weather and our drive.”
It grew eerily quiet, and she didn’t understand why they’d worry that the question was asked. It was a simple question that even she understood. It was snowing, and they were following the road.
“What’s wrong?” Dad asked.
Why would he ask that? Uncle Brad asked about the weather and our drive. Adults were so weird. She’d never be like them when she grew up.
“Maddie checked our survival packs. The dipshit responsible for packing them forgot to add the emergency blankets, and we don’t have any blankets ourselves.”
Even she knew that was bad if they had to stop. She’d learned some survival skills from her dad and uncles. It’d taken her a long time to get them to take her when they taught Jason, but they’d finally agreed, so she’d been going since she was seven. She was such a child then. Wet behind the ears. Now, she knew what she was doing.
Dad looked at Mom, and it was like they were using telepathy or something because they seemed to agree on something and hadn’t said a word. She wasn’t sure she’d want some boy listening in on her thoughts. And, surely she didn’t want to listen in on theirs. It’d be about skateboarding and gross things. Boys were so immature. Except Robbie Macintyre. She might marry him, provided he couldn’t read her thoughts like her parents did.
A couple of her uncles spoke at once, but she’d figured out they were asking about checking their packs. She wanted to climb over the seat and check theirs.
“Here’s the deal,” her dad said with authority, “we’ll continue to drive slowly and not take any risks. If the weather worsens to where we can’t see, then we pull over and work it out. The blankets are large enough we could put two of the little ones together and have an extra blanket or two.”
“That’s if the rest of us have emergency blankets in our packs.” She’d never heard Uncle Trent sounding cross.
“Okay, settle down. If you can—safely—check out your pack, do so. If it’s not safe, don’t you dare check it.”
Mom turned to her and Jason. “Jason, would you pull one of our packs over and the two of you check it?”
They had two packs in their SUV, which took up most of the cargo area. Dad had to load some of their suitcases in Uncle Brad’s SUV since he only had two sets of suitcases.
It had surprised her when no one checked their packs since they were in a backpack and not a clear container. It hadn’t been like her dad, but she’d seen the worry on his face when he looked up to that soupy gray and bright white sky.
Jason pulled a large black pack over and nodded to her, allowing her to do the search. He must’ve seen the excitement on her face since he smiled when she reached for the bag.
Unzipping the first pack, she had a good feeling. It was organized, which made it easier to search. When she reached and dug around and didn’t find the emergency blankets, worry crept inside her. It made her dump the bag in the cargo area so the supplies spread across suitcases in front of her. Recounting every item as she replaced it in the bag, she kept hoping she’d overlooked them. A flashlight with extra batteries. Flag….
“There’s not one in the first one,” she announced.
This time, Dad swore, but she ignored it. “You can stop, pumpkin.”
“She’s right,” Jason said. “I watched, and there’s not one there.”
He nodded and made her happy with what he said. “I know. She knows what she’s doing.”
All at once, reports poured in with lots of complaining and planning.
“Listen up,” Dad said, and they all stopped. When she took her dad’s position at HIS, she hoped she could make agents pay attention. “My GPS shows about fifteen minutes at this pace. And we’ll keep at this pace for safety.”
Uncle Brad nearly exploded, talking back to her dad. “What the f—”
She shook her head at her uncle and his forgetfulness. Her father had banned that word and a couple of others around the children—and there were lots of children listening. Uncle Brad never seemed to remember that. He called himself a rebel, but Aunt Madison said he just wished he was. Reagan wasn’t sure Uncle Brad’s wife knew him that well because everyone knew he was trouble.
Uncle AJ laughed. “We might have to tunnel in.”
Aunt Em scoffed. “You exaggerate. If it’s that bad, surely the lodge staff will shovel it knowing more than half their guests are in this group.”
“Enough,” Dad said calmly. “Please remember the kids are in the cars. You know we can make this. Yes, the snow has picked up, but it’s our family Christmas, and I won’t allow us to miss it. And, AJ—no.”
Dad and Mom did that brain-talking stuff because she reached up and disconnected the conference call. Dad never said goodbye, so Reagan wasn’t sure her mom didn’t cut the call early.
It’d been so quiet in the cab that Reagan was about ready to ask to sing a carol when Mom spoke softly to Dad.
“Do you know why your dad wanted us to meet on Christmas? Last year he said he wanted us to converge at Thanksgiving every year instead of Christmas. He’d said it’d take away all the present toting.”
“I don’t know.” He looked at Reagan in the rearview mirror, so she turned away as if she couldn’t hear or didn’t care. They never checked on whether Jason overheard. Still, he lowered his voice, and she could barely hear. She’d been told by both Mom and Dad that eavesdropping wasn’t okay, but she did it anyway. So much could be learned. “I’m a little curious and flat out concerned about the summons. And why all the way out here? Granted, it’s beautiful.”
Her body tightened in fear. Did he mean trouble like someone being sick like Jason had been? She’d thought this was just a family fun get-together. Her joy turned to worry that someone might be sick or having problems. Her mind kept conjuring up ideas that only made her feel worse. Her head spun to Jason.
Leaning down to her ear, he whispered, “I’m okay, squirt.” Relief flooded her, smacking away her fear.
For some reason, Jason calling her that didn’t bother her. Maybe because he didn’t call her that in public. If only Dad could remember to do it only with family, she’d be happy.
Mom placed a hand on her dad’s thigh. “You’re worried, aren’t you? About what he’s going to say?”
He blew out a breath, and Reagan wished she could reach around and give him a hug. He always said nothing made him feel better. “Yes. I’m worried.”
“How about I tell you something that’ll make you feel better about something?”
“We’ve got bad roads, not the right safety gear for most, worry about my family if something happens, and concern over what my dad is going to say. Please give me something that’ll take away a little of the uncertainty that’s coiled itself in my gut.”
“I signed the contract to write a series of cookbooks. Not just for adults, but some for children.”
Dad perked up and looked happy instead of worried. “Congratulations! That’s so wonderful. I’m proud of you and glad you decided to do it.”
So was Reagan. Before she or Jason could say anything, Mom’s face reddened when Dad lifted her hand and kissed it.
She wanted to vomit. They just didn’t stop that touching and loving stuff. In fact, all her uncles did that. If she ever married, that touchy-feely stuff needed to come down a notch or two.
While they had their good news, something about this trip made her tummy feel funny. It wasn’t just that Robbie had invited her to the Christmas Ball for tonight and she’d had to say no because of this trip, and she didn’t know who he’d invited next. If it was Hope Johnson, she’d never speak to him again. The girl was mean to other girls, but not the boys. But she couldn’t explain the roiling in her belly.
She’d talk to Poppy, because he always made everything better.
CHECKING HIS PHONE for the time, a phone call, a text message, or that Face thing the kids liked to use, Blake Hamilton—the patriarch of the Hamilton clan—stood staring at the “not recently enough” plowed road out the large glass windows of the Lodge at White Ridge, searching for his delayed family. With the snow falling fast and heavy, providing an unwanted near whiteout, he wondered if they’d make it today. According to the lodge staff, the area didn’t usually get a lot of snow and very few storms. It’d been what attracted him to the lodge and the area surrounding it. It was unfortunate this year fell into their infrequent weather conditions.
Thanks to the coordination between his wife and his daughter-in-law Kate, they’d chartered two private jets for his large family. Flexibility and comfort had been important in bringing all of them to join him and Elizabeth in Colorado.
He shifted from one foot to the other, unable to stop the motion, even knowing the action derived from anxiety rather than the brittle chill from the windows. His family’s arrival was much later than he’d expected. Even knowing the skills his family had, Blake closed his eyes and sent up a small prayer that they didn’t get stranded. Not today. Not tonight. Not Christmas Eve.
A vision formed in the glass, walking toward him. Even though a reflection, the trim woman in navy slacks and a cream, formfitting sweater drew raw emotion from him.
“Staring out the window isn’t going to make them arrive any faster,” Elizabeth told him in her soft voice as she approached. “It’s morning. They’ll make it. They’re probably driving slowly and carefully. This isn’t Baltimore.”
He turned and kissed his wife on her luscious lips and took her into his arms. God, he loved her. It’d taken a long time for the two of them to find each other, so he didn’t plan to lose a minute with her. Now though, he needed to watch for his family. He hoped his decision to transport them here didn’t bring any harm to them. His gut roiled. He couldn’t live with that. He’d rather not repeat the family adventure they’d experienced a couple years ago where they’d had to rescue Elizabeth.
Remembering what she’d said, Blake released her and responded, “No, but it’ll make me see them first. I wished they’d flown in yesterday.”
“Your sons didn’t arrive home until last night.”
He grunted his acknowledgment. He hated when she was right. However, she was the one who eased him down when he allowed his emotions to get out of control. She also made sure he followed his diet and exercise since the doctor had dictated it after his mild heart attack. That meant no snacks. At least not any he’d call snacks. Surviving on it all took a huge “hooah” and “hooyah” as he supported his sons equally.
Shoving his hands deep into his pockets to keep from fidgeting, he turned to look outside again. For a moment, the beauty of the snow-covered scene that surrounded the cabin relaxed him. Then he looked back at the empty road and lost that peace. He couldn’t help it. Besides Elizabeth, his entire world was on those roads. “Are all the reservations set? Everything else?”
“Yes.”
“Cribs in the rooms? Dinner all set? The boys’ and Emily’s gifts ready? Did you find the Elf on the Shelf and hide it somewhere?”
The amusement in her voice didn’t elude him. “I’ve tripled checked that everything is to your specifications.”
Raising his eyebrows, he turned to her, hiding a smile, but a quirk on his lips on the right side of his mouth might’ve given him away. “Mine? I believe you had more input into them than I did. Putting together shindigs is your thing.”
She shook her head slightly, and a low giggle escaped. “I’m used to big deal galas, like tux receptions. Never a family retreat.” Since she’d resigned from her position with the foun
dation, Elizabeth still offered her time to raise funds. She showcased those skills and talents as donations rolled in at her events.
He turned back to the road, grinning broadly. She was too easy. “As long as it’s set up.”
“Hello, Lee,” Elizabeth smoothly voiced as guests Lee Walker and his son, Brandon, stepped up beside them. “How’s the stay so far?”
At his invitation, the two were staying over for Christmas. Trust and love warmed any area where the two were together, and he wanted them to meet his family. Once they invaded the lodge, everyone would meet them. He looked forward to and dreaded this retreat. The “good news, bad news” hung around his neck and nearly suffocated him when he put too much effort into thinking it through.
Turning to a positive, he asked Brandon, “Are you ready to meet my nieces and nephews? Remember, Reagan’s your age.”
That big, wide-eyed stare and excited nod greeted him the same as when he’d told the kid about her in the first place. Lee had appeared thankful, and Blake wasn’t sure why. His best guess was that it wouldn’t be just the two of them for the holiday.
Brandon pointed. “Is that them?”
Blake whipped his stare to the spot down the road. Several sets of headlights, one behind the other, came up the road to the lodge. Sure enough, his family had arrived. Relief swept through him, leaving him jubilant at seeing the family had reached the lodge together. The way they always should be.
Brandon looked up to his father. “Do we need to help them unload?”
Lee responded with what could’ve been regret. Maybe Blake read too much into it. “No, son, this is a family thing, and they have a large family to take care of each other.”
“But—”
“You heard me. Let’s go get into something we probably shouldn’t.”
The boy almost jumped with excitement. “Yeah.”
